Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland, 1856 RMG PZ4680

Queenstown [Cobh], Ireland, 1856
No. 8 in Fanshawe's Baltic and later album, 1843 - 83. Captioned by the artist 'Queenstown - March 1856' on the album page below the image. The ship in the centre flies the flag of a rear-admiral of the blue but may be Fanshawe's 'Hastings' of which he was captain from late August 1855 (in the Baltic) to May 1856, latterly at Queenstown. She had sailed there from Portsmouth on 7 December 1855, but due to his long recuperation from 'rheumatic gout' contracted in the Baltic, Fanshawe was only able to rejoin her (with his wife and daughter) at the end of January 1856. At the end of March 'Hastings' was ordered back to Portsmouth and remained there until she was paid off later that year.
Queenstown, now Cobh, was a home Royal Naval station at this time and a point of Irish embarkation, especially in ships sailing from British west coast harbours like Liverpool.

Queenstown [Cobh], Ireland, 1856